


Catcalling and Handcuffs

by barricadebutts



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:06:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3487628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barricadebutts/pseuds/barricadebutts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine visits the lodging house to go out to dinner with Jack but it would appear that nothing’s ever that simple when your boyfriend’s living in a house full of rambunctious teenagers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catcalling and Handcuffs

**Author's Note:**

> I actually found this in a notebook from last year and I really liked it so I changed a bit and edited some things and decided to post it. And also, Romeo is totally Andy Richardson in this and I’m not even sorry.  
> I don't currently have a beta so this work is obviously un-betae. Let me know what you think!

The first thing she notices when she walks up to the front door of the lodging house is that there’s an extreme amount of noise coming from the second story window. Above her, she can vaguely hear the shouts from the boys’ windows along with a few snickers. They’re yelling about everything from the most recent race results to predictions on what tomorrow’s headline’ll be. One particular boy catcalls to her from a window above and she makes the mistake of looking up and seeing a black haired boy with freckles being pulled back through the window and being replaced by Jack.

He smiles down at her and reaches behind him to shove some of the other boys away. Jack is really not doing himself any favors by acting so lovey dovey around her but Katherine continues to eat it up. “Just come on up, Ace. I’ll be right there!” he calls down, waving her up. Katherine nods with a smile on her face and watches as a hand grabs Jack’s hat off of his head, causing him to turn back into the room to try and get it back. More shouts emanate from the jeering kids as Katherine pushes her way into the musty house.

Much to her surprise, it’s fairly quiet downstairs compared to the raucous of the floor above. Deciding she’ll probably need to go upstairs in order to see Jack, she begins to climb the old wooden stairs and ascend into the newsboys’ ultimate territory.

Faces peak out from doors and around corners. Regardless of how often Katherine visits the lodging house, there are still those few kids who seem to be spooked whenever she comes around. A door at the end of the hall swings open and a tall blond bespectacled boy runs out and stops in his tracks when he sees Katherine. “Uh…here.” He’s incredibly jittery as he holds out Jack’s news cap for Katherine. “It’s Jack’s, actually. He’ll probably be out in a minute but he’s a little tied up at the moment with Romeo.”

Katherine laughs and takes the hat. “Thank you Specs. I should probably just wait here then?” she asks curiously. Specs thinks for a moment and nods, running down the stairs two at a time. The same door opens again a few minutes later with Jack pulling Romeo behind him. Jack practically drags Romeo after him; his long strides proving difficult for the shorter Romeo to follow and he’s shouting some obscenity after Specs who’s probably halfway to Brooklyn by now. He looks positively livid and Katherine notices that Romeo even looks a bit nervous as he struggles to keep up, wrist thrown out in front of him.

Spotting Katherine, Jack’s frustration abruptly abates and a calm but nervous look passes over his face. He looks from his and Romeo’s connected wrists to Katherine and tries to laugh. “Crutchie snatched a pair of Snyder’s cuffs from the refuge after the strike and Specs thought it would be funny to handcuff me and Romeo here.” He jerks his wrist up forcing Romeo to over compensate for the sudden movement.

“Miss Katherine, I’m sorry for cat-calling you like that. Jack says it’s my fault that we’s cuffed together now,” Romeo tries to apologize and Katherine thinks that Jack is probably making him apologize to her.   

Katherine gives her sincerest smile because she honestly appreciates the sentiment behind his apology—despite how forced it probably is... maybe not though. “It’s alright Romeo. Do you know where the key is? Jack and I were supposed to go out to dinner tonight,” she asks hopefully. Somewhere deep inside her though she knows that the answer probably won’t be as simple as someone handing the key over and unhooking the two boys.

Romeo doesn’t get the chance to answer before Jack mutters, “Specs. Where is the bastard anyways?”

“He took off down the stairs after giving me your hat.” Suddenly remembering the hat, she takes a few steps towards Jack and places it snuggly on his head. He makes a ‘hmpf’ noise and Romeo tries to keep his mouth closed despite what Katherine knows he wants so badly to say.

“So what’s we supposed to do about this?” Romeo nods towards the chain linking his and Jack’s wrists together. “I’d hate to be a third wheel…so to say.”

Jack looks over at Romeo and shakes his head. “Yeah, I bet you’d hate that. We nicknamed you ‘Romeo’ for a reason, kid.” The two begin to bicker and only stop when Katherine hushes them.

“Enough you two! I think Darcy or Bill has a pair of metal cutters in their basement. If you two will follow me in a relatively subdued manner, I can have you two free within the hour and Jack and I can go on our date in peace.”

“This is why I love you, Ace,” Jack exclaims as they turn to walk down the stairs, Katherine in the lead. “Lead the way.”


End file.
